In general, the overall relationship between institution size (as indicated by number of students, number of faculty or total number of degrees conferred) and degrees conferred to African Americans is attenuated by differences between HBCU and TWI institutions. That is, the relatively smaller HBCUs graduate relatively larger numbers of African Americans than the larger TWIs. However within category, institution size strongly predicts the number of Black graduates.
Within HBCUs, the percentage of African American students does not correlate significantly with the number of degrees conferred to Blacks. Nor does the number of Black undergraduates correlate with the percentage of degrees conferred to Blacks. However, the proportion and number of Black undergraduates correlate with the percentage of degrees conferred to Blacks.
The proportion and number of African American undergraduates does relate to degrees conferred to African Americans among the TWIs. It appears that HBCUs as a group have attained a threshold of Black student participation above which changes in percentages or numbers matter less. Among TWIs however, the proportion of Black students influences the number who graduate and the number of Black undergraduates influences the proportion of Black graduates.
Analysis performed by
Victor M. H. Borden, Ph.D. Director, Information Management and Institutional Research Assistant Professor of Psychology Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
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